Editorial: Lawsuit targets only one of many

Many questions are being raised about the recent lawsuit filed by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East against 97 oil and gas producers and pipeline companies. The suit alleges that the industry is responsible for causing much of the damage to Louisiana's disappearing coastal marshes that once afforded protection to New Orleans - as well as the rest of the coast - from hurricanes.

But many experts agree that there are many who share in that responsibility.

Is it fair to go after only one of them?

We think not.

Even the lawsuit itself fixes the oil industry's culpability at 36 percent.

For that matter, would it be fair to go after any of them?

Robert Twilley, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told The Daily Advertiser on Tuesday there is "no one root of the problem."

And much of what was done to the coast was done with good intentions and often, with good reason, Twilley said.

The Army Corps of Engineers built the levee system, with the goal of building the largest navigation system in the world, Twilley said, and to protect cities and towns, like Baton Rouge and New Orleans, from river flooding.

But isolating the Mississippi from the coastal marshes has deprived the wetlands of the river sediment it needs to constantly rebuild itself.

Most of the oyster reefs, which served as part of the system of offshore barriers, were removed by companies that supplied oyster shells for south Louisiana parking lots during the first half of the 20th century, said Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association and a member of The Daily Advertiser's Editorial Board.

Even the ubiquitous nutria, originally imported from South America to be raised for their fur, have contributed to coastal erosion, Briggs said and Twilley agreed.

And then, there is the oil and gas industry. The dredging of canals has contributed to land loss, especially in the earlier days of operations.

But the industry's practices are far different today than in those earlier times, Briggs said. In the 21st century, companies work to mitigate whatever impact their operations have on the surrounding land.

And these operations have also been responsible for providing employment for generations of Louisianians and is probably the single largest factor in bringing prosperity to the state.

These and other topics relating to the lawsuit are being considered by the joint House- Senate Transportation Committee.

The committee chairman, state Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, worries about sending a message that "you can do business in our state 50 years ? and we'll sue you," according to an article from Gannett Baton Rouge reporter Mike Hasten.

That is a legitimate concern.

John Barry, vice-chairman of the levee board, countered that the suit is about protecting people from hurricanes.

That is also valid.

Twilley said the arguments are "strong on both sides," but he sees a different solution.

Twilley believes that since the state has sacrificed its coast to supply the nation with fuel for nearly a century, the federal government should return adequate funding to Louisiana to mitigate coastal damage.

That would be reasonable and fair.

Louisiana's oil and gas industry sends about $7 billion to the Treasury each year in revenues. While the federal government returns 50 percent of oil and gas revenues to other states through revenue sharing, coastal states get only a small fraction of that. In 2017, that is set to go up to 37.5 percent, but that is still years away, in spite of efforts on the part of Louisiana's representatives and senators in Congress.

So, Louisiana is left searching for a way fund efforts to protect itself from another Katrina or Rita.

The biggest problem, Twilley said, is finding an equitable way to determine who will pay for that protection.

There are no easy answers to this question.

It wouldn't be fair to expect only the citizens of the levee district to bear the cost.

But it would be equally unfair to make the oil and gas industry bear the entire burden.

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Editorial: Lawsuit targets only one of many

Many questions are being raised about the recent lawsuit filed by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East against 97 oil and gas producers and pipeline companies.